Childrearing Among the Lower Classes of Late Medieval England essays

Childrearing Among the Lower Classes of Late Medieval England essays Barbara Hanawalt's, Childrearing Among the Lower Classes of Late Medieval England, examines the practices and pitfalls of parental dynamics during the late 13th and early 14th century in English villages such as Bedfordshire and Oxford, as well as the comparably larger city of London. Focusing on children's ages from the time of birth till their twelfth birthday, Hanawalt bases her research on coroner's inquests of the time to garner statistics from which she extrapolates evidence to support her conclusions. The coroner's inquests from this time period were required by law, and detailed in regards to the cause of death, the members of the household, and their activities at the time, their residences, and their occupations. Through these detailed transcripts, Hanawalt attempts to create a vignette of peasant life, and therefore the circumstances in which children were raised to the age of twelve, at which point they were considered adults by society during that time. Hanawalt's motivation for conducting her social type of historical research is based upon dispelling earlier research by Philippe Aries, in his book Centuries of Childhood. Aries's book contends that contemporary sentimental notions of childrearing developed during this time "in response to the loss of other familial functions to the centralized state and the exigencies of industrialization" (pg. 23), and that this could outweigh familial bonds. Hanawalt counters these assertions by methodically introducing her own conclusions based upon statistical data as well as detailed circumstances in relation to them. Furthermore, she begins by pointing out that Aries garners his research and conclusions from the upper class, while ignoring the peasant majority. Also, she points out that Aries' research is incomplete due to it starting with children aged seven, and ignoring ages from infancy till six. Due to the peasant majo...